Improvement in base-ball covers



M. J. RYAN.

BASE BALL COVER.

Patented March 21,1876.

N FUERS, FHOTO-LITHOGRAFHER, WASHINGTON D C UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARTIN J. RYAN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN BASE-BALL COVERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 175,172, dated March 21, 1876 application filed September 16,1875.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, MARTIN J. RYAN, of

the city of Brooklyn, inthe' county of Kings and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Base- Balls, which improi 'ement is fully set forth and described in the following specification:

This invention consists in certain novel improvements and changes in the method of covering the ball proper, and in the peculiar shape of the leather, or other material, forming said covering, the object being to produce a ball perfectly spherical in its outwardform, as well as to so cover theball thatrup'turing will not occur with ordinary usage, theflcon- 'struction, application, and advantages of which will be herein fully pointed out and described. V f

Inthe drawings,which .form an essential part of this specification, Figure 1 is an elevation of a ball, in which is embodied my in-;

vention. Fig. 2 is a side elevation, giving another view ofthe same, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of one of theQtrifurcated sections of i leather forming one-half of the cover.

f Similar letters of reference in the various figures of the drawing .will indicate corre spondingparts.

Heretofore in theprocess of manufacturing base-balls much difficulty has been experienced in forming the'exterior or th'e ball perfectly spherical in shape. The leather covers were cut into such-shapes that, when sewed together'ou the ball, irregularities would present themselves on the surface of the covered ball, causing deviations from a perfect sphere.

In practical use, in a game of base-ball, it

is absolutely necessary that the. ball'used shall be perfect in all respects, not-.only'with regard to its interior construction and packing, but its exterior surfacemust be perfectly spherical, otherwise theimperfections in its form willcause serious. deviations fromadirectline duringits flight in the air. v

' To those familiar withthe' game of baseball this defect is welt kno'wn,as well as the demand for its correction. It is toovercome and obviate these faultsin the ordinary ball that I have made my present invention. y

. The usual method of cutting the leather cover has been to form it in two bifurcated pieces, which, when sewed together, formed the cover of the ball. It is simplyimpossible to secure a perfect sphere in this way, to say nothing of the great strain on the seams when sewed together.

In carrying out my invention, I make use of two trifurcated pieces of leather, or other covering material, of the shapeas shown plainly in Fig. 3 of the drawings. These pieces when sewed together over the filling of the ball will form a perfectly spherical cover;

the seams will also take such position or location on the surface of the ball that, no matter how tightly they may be sewedftogether, they will permit sufficient expansion, as the ball is used, to render any liability to rupture out of the question. This a desideratum in a'baseball, and never before attained.

A, in Fig. 3, represents one of the trifurcated pieces of leather, or othermaterial, which forms one half of the ball-cover. A

and B, in .Figs. 1 and 2, showthe position these pieces take, and the location of the seams, when sewed together asJa cover to the ball. x

The method of stamping or cutting out these trifurcated pieces, the methodof forming the interior of the ball, method-of sewing on the cover, are the same as inthe case of the ordinary ball s,and need no description here.

A ball covered in the improved method I have described will not only present a'handsome exterior, but it will outlast several of the ordinary make.

Having thus fully described my invention,

what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

p A cover for balls, composed of two trifurcated pieces of leather or other material, cut

stantially as herein set forth.

into the shape shown in Fig. 3, applied sub- MARTIN J. RYAN.

In presence of- A. L. MUNSON, E. G. WARD. 

